The Faculty

The Faculty of Foreign Languages aims to improve the standards of foreign language teaching. But the fulfillment of this seemingly limited task has involved a number of issues, including some scholarly, academic and social aspects.  

As a faculty we work in a number of areas related to foreign language teaching. First of all, it is the development and validation of LSP teaching methods in various specialist areas, which presupposes studying language functioning in various branches of science, engineering, economy, and culture. Our task is also the development of modern methods to train foreign language teachers, translators and interpreters and experts in cross-cultural communication.

From the very beginning our research work at the Faculty of Foreign Languages has been mainly devoted to studying the functions of language in all spheres of the life of society, its role as a means of communication and cognition, and as an instrument of culture.

As the connection between the language and the life of the people who speak it has been well-established, we believe in studying foreign languages in broad social, political and cultural contexts. Our main principle is teaching not only linguistic theory and certain language skills, but introducing our students to the culture and civilization of the people whose language they study. We teach language and culture, language and thought, language and the picture of the world, languages in contact, cultures in contact and cross-cultural communication. Besides, we believe it is profound knowledge of our students’ mother tongue, of Russian culture and the history of Russia that is essential for their successful international contacts. That is why our curriculum includes courses of the Russian language and Russian culture which are compared with foreign languages and cultures.

The Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies comprises three divisions: Division of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, Division of Area Studies and International Relations, Division of Cultural Studies.

The Division of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication offers full-time 5-year Specialist’s Degree programs and full-time 4-year Bachelor’s Degree programs in Linguistics. Our graduates are qualified instructors in foreign languages, translator/interpreters, or intercultural communication experts, according to the major areas they choose.

Our students study modern European languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian, Czech, Polish, Serbian. They acquire not only theoretical linguistic knowledge and practical language skills, but also a deep understanding of the world of the languages they study. It means that our graduates can apply their knowledge almost in every sphere, as the contemporary world is big and small at the same time, so good knowledge of languages and experience in intercultural communication are the open sesame even to the heaviest doors.

The Division of Area Studies and International Relations offers full-time 5-year Specialist’s Degree and 4-year Bachelor’s Degree programs in Area Studies. Our students specialize in the following areas: American Studies: USA, Canada; West European Studies: Great Britain, France, Italy; Russian Studies.

Specializing in the field, students combine their profound knowledge of a certain country or region, on the one hand, with fluency in two or more foreign languages, on the other. The curriculum includes courses in various aspects of life in a certain region: students study its history, population, economy, culture, literature, religion, law, ethnology and political history.

A specialist in area studies is a consultant on a certain region or country and, at the same time, a translator/ interpreter. Our graduates work for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian and international companies, in research centers, educational institutions, etc.

The Division of Cultural Studies was established in 2009 on the basis of the Department of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies. Our full-time 5-year Specialist’s Degree Program in Cultural Studies is aimed at training analysts, instructors and managers in various areas of art, literature, music, and specialists in the history of the Occidental and Oriental cultures.